Higan is a free

emulator In computing, an emulator is hardware or software that enables one computer system (called the ''host'') to behave like another computer system (called the ''guest''). An emulator typically enables the host system to run software or use pe ...

for multiple

video game console A video game console is an electronic device that outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can be played with a game controller. These may be home consoles, which are generally placed in a permanent location connected to ...

s, including the

Super Nintendo Entertainment System The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Eu ...

. Originally called bsnes (which was later reused for a new emulator by the same developer), the emulator is notable for attempting to emulate the original hardware as accurately as possible through low-level, cycle-accurate emulation and for the associated historical preservation efforts of the Super NES platform.

higan products family

Higan has been forked and renamed over the years, and consists of three sub-projects. The current sub-projects are: *bsnes: A Super NES emulator with Super Game Boy support. *higan: A multi-system emulator that focuses on accuracy. Supported systems include the NES, Super NES,

Game Boy The is an 8-bit fourth generation handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on April 21, 1989, in North America later the same year, and in Europe in late 1990. It was designed by the same t ...

(

Color Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associ ...

), Game Boy Advance, SG-1000 and SC-3000,

Master System The is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console manufactured by Sega. It was originally a remodeled export version of the Sega Mark III, the third iteration of the SG-1000 series of consoles, which was released in Japan in 1985 an ...

, Game Gear,

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...

, Sega CD, PC Engine (

SuperGrafx The , also known as simply the SuperGrafx, is a fourth-generation home video game console manufactured by NEC Home Electronics and released in Japan in 1989. It is the successor system to the PC Engine, released two years prior. Originally kno ...

), MSX and MSX2, ColecoVision, WonderSwan (Color), and Neo Geo Pocket (

). *ares: A multi-system emulator that is a fork of higan, focusing on performance and adding experimental

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a di ...

and Nintendo 64 support in addition to the systems supported in higan.

Overview

Development of the emulator began with the name ''bsnes'' on October 14, 2004. The first version was released in May 2005 for Microsoft

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for se ...

. The early versions would require high-power hardware to run games in a consistent manner and therefore garnered controversy. Since then, it has been ported to

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, whi ...

macOS macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and la ...

, and

FreeBSD FreeBSD is a free and open-source Unix-like operating system descended from the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD), which was based on Research Unix. The first version of FreeBSD was released in 1993. In 2005, FreeBSD was the most popular ...

. Initially developed under a custom license, later releases were licensed under various versions of the

GNU General Public License The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a series of widely used free software licenses that guarantee end users the four freedoms to run, study, share, and modify the software. The license was the first copyleft for general ...

. On August 9, 2012, the project was renamed to higan, to better reflect its new nature as a multi-system emulator. The higan project has contributed significantly to the field of Super NES emulation, with a number of original achievements in its emulation, and in

reverse engineering Reverse engineering (also known as backwards engineering or back engineering) is a process or method through which one attempts to understand through deductive reasoning how a previously made device, process, system, or piece of software accompli ...

developments such as the organization of funds, hardware, and expertise for decapping the Super NES's enhancement chips. Higan is able to run every commercial Super NES title ever released. It is the first emulator to have featured SPC7110 emulation, cycle-accurate SPC 700 emulation, cycle-accurate Super FX emulation, Super Game Boy emulation, and a dot-based instead of scanline-based renderer for the Game Boy Advance. It is the first multi-emulator of this breadth to achieve cycle-based emulation for every single component of every system. Forked versions of bsnes have provided emulation support for

Nintendo DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens working in t ...

XBAND XBAND (stylized as XBⱯND) was one of the first competitive online console gaming networks and was available for the Genesis and Super NES. It was produced by Catapult Entertainment in Cupertino, California. It is the only modem released in ...

, Super Famicom Box, Satellaview BS-X software, and tool-assisted speedruns.

Author

Higan was developed by American software engineer David Kirk Ginder (February 21, 1983 - June 27, 2021), known as ''Near'' and formerly as ''byuu''. Near started out in the emulation scene as an amateur programmer, translating Japanese video-game ROM images at the age of 14, and one year later developed a tool for displaying resized text font in games. After that, a ''patching assembler'' called "xas" would follow, which streamlined the ROM-translation process. The development of bsnes was triggered by bugs during translation of Super Famicom game '' Der Langrisser'' that would only appear on the original hardware but not on 2004-era Super NES emulators; as such, the aim of bsnes was for accurate emulation. Near contributed to the translation of the Nintendo RPG ''Mother 3'' and to the improvement of the emulator Snes9x. They also engaged extensively in creating faithful copies of Super NES games for preservation. In 2019, Near retreated from the emulation scene, after "a series of escalating privacy intrusions and targeted Internet harassment" affected their mental health. In February 2021, Near released a new translation for the Super Famicom game ''

Bahamut Lagoon is a 1996 tactical role-playing game developed and published by Square for the Super Famicom. ''Bahamut Lagoon'' was released on the Virtual Console in Japan on September 29, 2009 for the Wii and on February 5, 2014 for the Wii U. Gameplay ''B ...

'', a passion project that they had attempted multiple times since 1998. This is also the game where Near's former pseudonym of ''byuu'' comes from. On June 27, 2021, Near posted a suicide note on Twitter, claiming that they had faced extensive harassment from the website Kiwi Farms. Héctor Martín Cantero later announced he had confirmed Near's death with the police. One month later, their death was confirmed by their employer to ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

''. Near was 38 years old and identified as non-binary.

Reception

In 2008, British Internet magazine ''

Webuser ''Web User'', branded as ''WebUser'', was a fortnightly magazine published in the United Kingdom from 2001 until 2020. It covered topics relating to computing. Its sister magazine was ComputerActive. Overview ''Web User'' was founded by IP ...

'' recommended ''bsnes'' for "some fun old-school gaming". In 2009, Japanese game magazine ''GameLabo'' recommended it for "those seeking a realistic playing experience". In 2017, components of higan's

source code In computing, source code, or simply code, is any collection of code, with or without comments, written using a human-readable programming language, usually as plain text. The source code of a program is specially designed to facilitate the ...

were used to emulate the vintage

text-to-speech Speech synthesis is the artificial production of human speech. A computer system used for this purpose is called a speech synthesizer, and can be implemented in software or hardware products. A text-to-speech (TTS) system converts normal langu ...

computer used by

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

Stephen Hawking, after the original hardware began showing signs of wear. Hawking would continue using this emulator to converse with others until his death in 2018.

References

External links